Twinsburg resident and soccer coach indicted on eight counts of rape

Akron -- A Twinsburg resident and Sagamore Hills soccer club head coach has been indicted by a Summit County grand jury on multiple counts of rape, sexual battery and gross sexual imposition, according to the Summit County Prosecutor's Office.

Gregory S. Kudla, 37, of Gettysburg Drive and head coach and Trustee of the Sagamore Hills F.C. (football club), was indicted May 23 on eight counts of rape (first-degree felonies), five counts of gross sexual imposition (third-degree felonies), eight counts of sexual battery (third-degree felonies) and one count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles (fifth-degree felony).

Kudla's charges are not related to the Sagamore Hills F.C. soccer club, according to the Summit County Prosecutor's Office.

A voicemail message for Kudla was not returned seeking comment. An attorney for Kudla was not known as of May 27.

According to the prosecutor's office, the charges involve two females, one of which was a minor at the time of the alleged crimes. The prosecutor's office would not divulge either females' age now or at the time of the alleged crimes.

"This is not related to the soccer club ... there are actually two female victims ... one is a minor," stated Summit County Prosecutor's Office Director of Communications April Wiesner in a May 23 email to the Twinsburg Bulletin.

Kudla remains in Summit County jail on a $1 million bond.

The Sagamore Hills F.C. is a non-profit organization that offers soccer programs for adults and youth in Northeast Ohio.

"The arrest of someone who holds a position of respect within the community for sexual abuse serves as a sober reminder that sexual predators are not always who you expect," Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said May 23. "As parents we need to be vigilant about who we allow our children to trust. We need to keep an open line of communication with our children so that they will come to us if an adult acts inappropriately."

Kudla was arrested by the Twinsburg Police Department May 13, according to the Stow Municipal Court Clerk of Courts Office, and had his initial appearance before Judge Kim Hoover May 15. Hoover set bond at $1 million May 22.

The case was then bound over to Summit County Court of Common Pleas May 22.

The alleged rapes occurred between April 2010 and April 2014, according to the May 23 indictment. The alleged sexual batteries also occurred between April 2010 and April 2014.

Four of the five counts of alleged gross sexual imposition occurred between April 2005 and April 2009, according to the May 23 grand jury indictment, while one count of alleged gross sexual imposition -- the count involving the minor, according to the prosecutor's office -- occurred between Aug. 5, 2010, and Aug. 4, 2011.

The single count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles allegedly occurred between April 2010 and April 2014, according to the indictment.

Kudla was to be arraigned in Summit County Court of Common Pleas May 28. A judge was to be assigned at the arraignment.